(AP Photo)Chuck Kobasew (left) makes his return to TD Garden tonight to face his former team.

Bruins (21-11-6) vs. Minnesota (19-15-5)

Bruins last 10: 5-3-2Minnesota's last 10: 6-3-1

Game time: 7 p.m.

This is the only meeting between the two clubs this season. Last year the Bruins won 2-1 in a shootout as center David Krejci provided the winning shot.

The Bruins held an optional skate this morning, which means there's no clear cut answer as to who is starting in net. One would think it'll be Tuukka Rask and why not after his performance in Toronto, which earned him his third win of the season.

Rask needs to continue trusting in himself and if Bruins' head coach Claude Julien is smart, he'll stick with the current hot hand and give some rest to veteran goaltender Tim Thomas when he can.

The visit from Minnesota also marks the return of former Bruins winger Chuck Kobasew who was traded in Oct. 2009 for a second round draft choice in the 2011 NHL Entry Draft, the rights to unsigned draft choice Alexander Fallstrom, and forward Craig Weller.

"Chuck, to me, was always a true professional," said Julien during this morning's pre-game press briefing. "He came in and I mean that in the sense where everything he did was related to the game. He came in and it was all business when it was at the rink. Very good individual, good person, and it wasn’t easy to let him go."

B's notes: Boston is coming off a five-game, eight day span road trip, which landed them in first place in the Northeast Division after a 3-0-2 performance.

Keep your eye on the Lucic-Savard-Horton line tonight as it finally started to show signs of life against the Maple Leafs, which the Bruins won 2-1.

Horton netted his 12th goal of the season to tie up the score in the second period and Savard followed with the game-winner with 4:30 remaining in the frame assisted by Horton and Lucic.

Julien addressed the team's recent power-play struggles during this morning's press briefing. Boston is 0-for-6 in extra-man situations in its last three games.

"I think it’s got to get better. We talked about that this morning and again the month of December actually was a decent month for our power play, said Julien. "But so far in January and like you said the last few games it hasn’t been good enough for us and needs to generate some goals. So it’s a challenge for a power play right now to kind of turn that around and bring it up a notch."

Wild notes: Minnesota is coming off back-to-back wins over the Phoenix Coyotes (6-5 OT) and New Jersey Devils (2-1) and have won three of its last four and six of its last nine contests.

Currently the Wild are sitting in third place behind Vancouver and Colorado in the Northwest Division and are 12th overall in the Western Conference standings.

Niklas Backstrom is 2-0 all-time in Boston with a 0.50 goals-against average and .983 save percentage and Jose Theodore is 6-0-1 in his past eight starts in Boston with a 1.71 goals-against average and .945 save percentage.

Minnesota is 8-1-1 all-time vs. the Bruins and the only team in the NHL with a perfect record in Boston (5-0).

Other notes: Bruins defensemen Dennis Seidenberg has one goal and three assists in his last four games....Martin Havlat leads all Wild players with 25 points (nine goals, 16 assists) in 25 games against the Bruins...The game will be televised on NESN. Check your local cable/satellite provider.